Category Archives: Antiques

by

Introducing My Pinterest Page!

Hello to everyone who’s somehow stumbled across my blog in recent days. For those who are interested in seeing some of my humble photography and pictures of the stuff I’ve collected over the years, then feel free to check out my Pinterest Page, and please – leave comments and ratings. it’s nice to know what people think!

If you’re trying to find this in the future, either bookmark it, or seek it out on my EXTERNAL LINKS page, which is on the left side of my blog. I update my Pinterest Page roughly every week, so there’s always something new (or rather…old!) and interesting, to look at.

 
by

New Video: Antique Brass Counter Bells

Showing off some of the gems in my collection: My Victorian-era brass counter-bells…

Feel free to head over to my YouTube channel by clicking on the video, and leaving a LIKE or a COMMENT there, and be sure to check out my other videos about the other antiques that have found their ways into my hands!

 
by

Antique Brass Fire Extinguisher

You honestly find the weirdest things in charity shops. I picked this up about a week ago, for $20:

If this looks like a giant syringe…well…you’re not far wrong!

What we have here is an old-fashioned hand-pump fire-extinguisher, from the era around 1910-1930. It’s a Pyrene-style solid brass automotive fire extinguisher, of a kind that used to hold a fire retardant chemical called carbon tetrachlorine.

These small (14in. long, 3lb-weight, 1qt capacity), hand-pumped fire-extinguishers were very common from the 1910s up to the middle of the 20th century. Unpressurised and worked by hand, they were usually mounted in steel frames and stored on (or inside) early motor-cars, to be used in the event of a car-crash. They’re almost iconic with old cars – it’s like, you couldn’t have a car made before the Second World War, and not have one of these go with it!

They work very simply. You hold the barrel in one hand, turn the handle with the other (to the left), pull out the plunger, and, taking aim (and a firm grip!) you pump the handle back and forth. This builds up pressure inside the cylinder to force out the firefighting fluid through the nozzle at the front. It’s basically a giant, brass water-pistol or super-soaker, but it takes considerably more muscle to operate it!

One good thing about this extinguisher is that it is infinitely reusable. After emptying the 1qt (approx 1 litre) capacity in the cylinder, all you need to refill the extinguisher is a screwdriver (or a large coin) and a supply of water.

As these extinguishers were not pressurised (you have to pump them to do that, remember?), it’s actually really easy to open them and refill them, as there’s no chance of them exploding if you try to do so.

These extinguishers have a screw-down filler cap at the top of the cylinder, next to the pump-handle. A large coin or a suitably sized screwdriver is all you should need to unscrew the cap, and then refill the cylinder. These old pumpers work just as well with water, so provided everything else is hunky-dory, you can use these extinguishers almost limitlessly. Once they’re empty, simply unscrew the cap, lock down the handle, fill up the cylinder, screw the cap back on, and you’re ready to go!

It was a lot of fun cleaning, polishing and testing this extinguisher. The fact that it’s 90 years old and still works is pretty damn impressive in my book. It just goes to show the quality of workmanship back then.

 
by

Polishing Antique Metalware

In my humble opinion, one of the most fun things you can do with your antiques is clean them, and bring them back to the former glory that they once knew and enjoyed when they were young. Being able to see them gleam and shine will give you a much better appreciation of their workmanship and quality, and a greater understanding of what they looked like when they were new.

In this post, I’m talking about polishing antique metalware. Specifically, polishing antique silver, and antique brass. How to do it, why to do it, and how to prolong the shine.

Polishing Metals. Do or Not Do?

This is the same bland, stupid, water-kneed excuse that I find everywhere: “Polishing antique metalware destroys its value!”

Yeah?

Fiddlesticks.

Prove it. Go on, I dare you. Prove it.

As long as I’ve been alive, I’ve been into antiques, and as long as I’ve been into antiques, I’ve heard people wailing this cry like some ancient rain-song for imaginary sky-lords. And y’know what? I just don’t buy it. Never have, never did, never will.

I never will, because of the fact that brass and silver have been polished for centuries in the past, and have, and will, be polished for centuries into the future. Part of the whole reason people BUY brass and silver is to polish them! There’s no point in owning it if you can’t make it look nice. I could show thousands of pictures of antique brassware sold by auction houses, antiques shops, online dealers, professional restorers and eBay sellers, who routinely polish all their brass and silver.

So should you polish, or not?

Honestly, it’s up to you. Just don’t buy into that spiel that polishing it will destroy it. It will not. You only destroy it if you polish it the wrong way, and how to polish silver and brass the right way is part of what this posting is about.

How Do I Polish Brass?

Right. Let’s start with the easy one: Brass.

The go-to polish for brass is BRASSO. Invented in 1905, it’s been the standard brass polish for well over 100 years now, and it still works great for most applications. If you can’t find Brasso, then any good, general-purpose metal-polishing liquid will do.

Polishing brass can be done in a variety of ways. Either with rags, with superfine steel wool, or even just by hand. Which method you use will be determined by what the item is, and how easily it can be polished.

Polishing with a Rag

Polishing your brass with a rag or cloth or paper-towels is the accepted way of doing most polishing. This is good if the piece is large and requires a lot of extensive polishing and you need to cover a big surface-area. Just make sure that you fold the rag or paper-towels regularly, and use a fresh rag or paper-towel when it comes to buffing and polishing, right at the very end.

Polishing by Hand

This method is much messier than polishing with a rag, but in some ways, it’s a lot more fun!

To do this, you will need:

  • Brasso.
  • A clean towel.
  • A bucket of hot, soapy water.
  • Something to polish.
  • Clean hands.

I generally do this with smaller objects that you can hold in your hands – things like candlesticks, snuffers, brass trays…anything small and made of brass. Just pour a small amount of the liquid polish onto the brass and simply rub it thoroughly all over with your hands!

You will get REALLY messy doing this, and your hands will turn black, but the advantage is that you can rub and polish and clean literally EVERY part of the item, and reach into places which rags and tissues can’t access. This means that the overall finished result will be much better.

Once you’re done polishing really well, and your hands, and the item in question – are black from all the grime you’ve scrubbed off of it, then dump the item (and your hands) into the bucket of hot soapy water and wash the item, and your hands, thoroughly. Then pull out the gleaming piece of polished brass! Finally, dry yourself, and the item, with a towel and give it one last polish. Done!

Polishing with Steel Wool

Polishing brass with steel wool should only be done as a last resort. This is what you use to polish brass which is REALLY tarnished. You found something that’s been in a shed for 50 years. You dug it out of the ground. It’s been up in the attic since before grandpa died. That sort of thing. Only use this method if extensive and exhaustive scrubbing with the first two methods failed to yield any results.

Extremely tarnished brass will not always yield to Brasso alone. It might work, or it might not. Chances are, you could polish the item all day using Brasso, and get nowhere. That’s because of the thick layer of grime that’s dried and encrusted itself onto the metal, which the Brasso just isn’t strong enough to scrape off. That’s where the steel wool comes in.

Now, before you run off and get the steel wool pad that you have in the kitchen, I should clarify that you’ll be using a very specific type of steel wool for this sort of polishing. It’s 0000-grade, superfine steel wool. You can generally find it in any good hardware supplies store. It’s specifically designed for polishing and antiques restoration, so – if used properly – it shouldn’t damage anything.

Start by filling a small dish with liquid metal polish. Rip off a clump of polishing wool and get it into a manageable-sized lump. Dip the steel wool into the liquid polish, and then start scrubbing away at the brass.

If your brass item is really, really, REALLY heavily tarnished, this will take a long time, and quite a bit of elbow-grease. The combination of Brasso and steel wool is, in most cases, more than enough to cut through all this grime, but it requires persistence. Above all, resist the urge to use a coarser grade of steel wool. You’re trying to scrape off the filth – not scratch the brass!

Lacquer Removal

One important thing to keep in mind with antique brass is that some people put lacquer on it. Lacquer is a clear-coat protective fluid that dries on top of the brass, like paint, and provides a layer of protection on the brass against oxidation and tarnishing. It’s important to scrape off any lacquer from your brass before you polish it, because otherwise all you’re doing is polishing lacquer, which isn’t what you want to do.

You can buy specific lacquer-stripping chemicals, or you can use the ultra-fine steel wool to do it instead. You’ll know if there’s lacquer on the brass if you see any sort of cloudy or hazy parts on the metal (that’s where the lacquer is starting to dry and crust up). Just scrape it off like tarnish and then polish the exposed brass underneath.

Once you’re done with the polishing, you can either re-lacquer the brass, or you can do what I do, which is give the brass one final buff-over and polish with…olive oil.

Olive oil will give the brass a slight matte-finish, but it will also protect the brass from excessive tarnish. It’s easier to remove, and easier to put on, helps to clean the brass, and won’t harm it at all. Rub it on thoroughly with a paper-towel and then enjoy the shine!

How Do I Polish Silver?

Polishing silver is a much more delicate proposition than polishing brass, and as such, much more care should be taken in its cleaning. Silver is a much softer metal than brass, and as such it dents and scratches much more easily. Because of this, harsh chemical cleaning agents and abrasives of any kind should be avoided when trying to polish and clean your silverware.

When it comes to cleaning silver, you should use the softest and least aggressive polishing compound or liquid possible. Many people use, and swear by ‘silver foam’. It generally comes manufactured by two brands: Haggerty’s, and Goddard’s.

Silver foam is a bit like liquid-soap for silver. It’s a soft paste that comes in little plastic jars. Scoop a bit out and rub it onto the silver. Just like with Brasso, you can decide to do this with a rag, or with your bare hands, depending on what the piece is.

This is the back of a pocketwatch from 1925. It hadn’t been polished in decades, as you can see. And it’s got an ugly stripe and yellow gunk on it, from where the price-sticker had been on it for years and years and years.

After rubbing the paste on and polishing off all the tarnish, then you can simply wash the paste off with warm water. It starts to lather up a bit when you do this (hence the name ‘silver foam’), but basically it just washes off just like any other regular soap. Then simply dry the object with a soft towel.

Of course, silver foam is a very gentle polishing agent. Don’t expect it to remove anything especially harsh. If you have something on your silverware that you just cannot get off (like glue residue or staining from a price-tag or something like that), then you can use SILVO (the silver brother of BRASSO), but this should be a last resort.

Polishing the watch, first with silver-foam, and then with a couple of drops of Silvo has removed the gunk, grime and tarnish from the watch and restored it to its original glittering shine. Not bad for something that’s nearly 100 years old!

Silvo is meant to be used for polishing steel, chrome, pewter, silver and other white metals, but it is quite tough stuff. The smell alone when you open the bottle is proof of that! Using the smallest amount of Silvo possible (like, a few drops), is enough to clean off most hard, stubborn stains or marks on your silverware. But don’t use this to polish the entire piece. It’s quite abrasive as a polish, and it will rub away fine details like engravings, hallmarks and other decorative features.

General Polishing Tips

When polishing metal – gold, silver, brass, bronze…whatever…there are certain things you should always keep in mind.

The first thing is to use the right polishes and the right techniques. Always start with the most gentle option first, and then progress to the more aggressive ones.

Make sure that whatever you’re polishing is bare metal, and not plate. Polishing silver plate or nickel plate or chrome plate, or brass plate will just wear it off and expose the metal underneath, which can sometimes look really unsightly. Look for scuff-marks and wear-spots, to see whether or not something has been plated or not. In most cases, real silver will come with hallmarks, although they’re often well-hidden, so scope the piece out with a strong magnifying glass to be sure.

Apart from that, general polishing advice is to polish as infrequently as possible. Polish once, polish well, and then leave it alone! You shouldn’t need to polish something again for several months or even years, if you’ve done it properly. Excessive polishing damages fine details and rubs away engravings, marks and patterns. That’s the last thing you want to do!

 
by

Victorian Aide Memoires

Used most commonly in the Victorian era, the Aide Memoire (French for ‘Memory Aid’) is one of the quirkiest antiques that you could find today. Most people who come across them have no idea what they are, and frankly I’m not surprised. So, here we go…

Aide memoires were riveted booklets made of very thin slices of ivory, usually numbering between five to eight pages in length, and usually having the days of the week on the pages (usually Monday through to Saturday, and sometimes Sunday).

More elaborate versions had covers of pierced silver, mother-of-pearl, or tortoise-shell as decoration, while others had simple ivory covers, sometimes with silver edgings or cartouches riveted on.

Aide memoires were popular during the 1700s and 1800s, slowly dying out in the early 20th century, and their existence is directly linked to the evolution of writing instruments during this period.

The Function of an Aide Memoire

In an age when the dip-pen ruled supreme, and the only portable writing instrument was the propelling pencil made of sterling silver, or the humble, wood-cased pencil which more often than not, was sharpened with the blade of a pocket-knife, writing notes on the move was a tricky and messy process. Paper was expensive, ink was prone to leaks, and small, pocket notepads had not yet been conceived. So how did you keep reminders of what you needed to do that week?

You bought an aide memoire.

On an aide memoire, you wrote in pencil the things you needed to remember for that week. The dates of doctor’s appointments, nights at the theatre, dinner with friends, shopping that had to be done, and so on. At the end of each week, the ivory sheets were wiped clean with a damp cloth, and the details for the next week’s engagements were written down.

Like an iPad or personal organiser today, the original expenditure on an aide memoire was likely to be fairly high, but the money saved in paper was probably considered to be worth the expense.

Aide memoires varied in size and intricacy, from tiny little ones not much larger than matchboxes, to significantly larger ones almost the size of a modern iPhone (which is about as big as they get).

They usually resided in a gentleman’s coat pocket, on a watch-chain, in a lady’s handbag, or else hung from a chain on her chatelaine. Aide memoires designed for chatelaines and pocketwatch chains came with a ring, swing-toggle or hook on the end so that they could be clipped on safely without fear of loss or breakage.

Due to their extremely thin sheets of ivory, aide memoires are pretty fragile. They need to be handled with care, and cleaned gently. Any old marks or stains can generally be polished off with warm water. If there are heavier stains, then a microscopic amount of Brasso metal-polish will also do the trick; a drop will suffice.

Aide memoires did exist in other formats; versions of them were included in higher-quality writing boxes, and these ranged from cheap waxed cardboard, to ivory, to the new wonder-material of the 1800s: Celluloid. Portable, pocket aide memoires were also made of celluloid, but ivory was always the preferred material.

 
by

Ten Tools for Effective Antiquing.

As with any proud antiques collector, I take a lot of pleasure in showing off my latest finds online. On Facebook, in collectors’ forums and of course, here on my blog.

Often I get people asking me stuff like: “Where did you find that?”, “How did you spot it?”, and “How do you know what to look for?”

A lot of my success is down to dogged determination and careful examination, but there are certain things which I always believe that a good antiques-hunter should always have on his or her person whenever they go out bargain-hunting. Here are my tools that I think every person should bring with them when they go antiquing, to improve their chances of finding a bargain…

  1. A flashlight or torch – Antiques shops are not always the best-lit of places. The most amazing treasures are usually hiding in plain sight and without adequate lighting, it’s impossible to tell what you’re looking at. In flea-markets, where cases are often jammed with trinkets, a small, but powerful pocket flashlight is often useful for carefully inspecting each object, before asking the shopkeeper, or the stallholder, to unlock or open the cabinet for you. It’s easier for you, and it saves the other guy’s time.
  2. A Magnifying Glass – Every good antiques collector should have a magnifying glass…I actually have several of these. Everything from those massive, solid, cut-glass monsters with brass frames, that remind you of Sherlock Holmes, right down to tiny pocket-magnifiers which I keep in my waistcoat pocket. A powerful magnifying glass is essential for checking for flaws, cracks, chips, maker’s marks, hallmarks, serial numbers and other small details in items like watches, porcelain, silverware and other manufactured goods.
  3. A Measuring Tape! – A small, pocket-sized retractable measuring tape is great for antiquing. Ideally, it should be one of those cheap ones with the soft plastic measuring-tapes inside them, not the hard, steel ones that you find at hardware stores – the last thing you need is the hard edges of your tape scratching up a table! A small measuring tape that measures out to about 150cm (around 60in) will be sufficient for most purposes. Nothing sucks more than not knowing if that vase or pot or spare part, or table, is going to fit into the space that you had envisioned for it in your home! So make sure you take measurements!
  4. Notepad and Pen – For taking notes, jotting down measurements, serial-numbers, the names of items…What, you seriously think you’re gonna remember all that crap? Huh… Get real!
  5. Camera – For taking pictures, duh! Useful for remembering things and cataloging where and when you saw something of interest. In antiques shops its unlikely to be a problem, but some people at flea-markets get a bit antsy when you snap their stuff (I’m yet to figure out why), so unless you know the person well, always ask before snapping.
  6. Your Mobile Phone – For taking pictures, if you don’t have a camera, and for accessing the internet (if you can), for doing on-the-fly checks about whatever it is you’re looking at, to find out more information before you buy it.
  7. Cash! – Where possible, pay in cash! Sometimes, you have to (such as in flea-markets or antiques fairs where access to EFTPOS isn’t always possible), and sometimes it’s just easier. People are more likely to accept a discount if you’re able to cough it up there and then. Cash is King. And the king (usually) gets what it wants.That said, if possible, keep your cash to small denominations. Fives, tens and twenties. Don’t bring out the big guns unless you’re actually paying for something expensive. Trying to chip down something from $30 to $20 and then paying with a $50 bill looks kinda iffy, yeah?
  8. Pocket Reference-Book – If you can find one (and if something like this is useful), then a pocket reference-book (such as for silver hallmarks) should be something you should keep on you at all times when antiquing. If nothing else, it’ll save the batteries on your phone from wearing out as you try to look up those marks online!
  9. A Magnet – For testing if something is brass, gold, silver, plated, or just really really shiny steel.
  10. Manners and a Good Sense of Humor – You want a bargain? Smile. You want more bargains? Be funny. I’ve managed to knock prices off all kinds of things just by being sweet, charming and cute. If a stallholder or antiques dealer likes you enough, they may be induced to drop the price…even moreso, if you’re a regular customer!

And there we have it. Some of those are obvious, some, perhaps not. But either way, they should all help to increase your odds in one way or another.

If you want to know more about antiquing and get more tips and tricks, then keep an eye out for the upcoming MAY issue of The Australia Times – Antiques, where I’ll be going into this stuff in MUCH more detail! The magazine is free, online, and easily accessed at:

http://www.theaustraliatimes.com/magazine/antiques/

 
by

18th Century Dutch Brass Mortar and Pestle

Some things are just too cool to pass up. Like this doovelackey…

I picked this honey up online about a week ago, and the moment I saw it, I knew I had to add it to my collection. I just can’t resist antique brassware. Such variety, such beauty…I had to have it!

Mortars and pestles made of bronze (and later, brass) were very common in the period from the later-Renaissance period, up to the 1800s. They were relatively easy to make, extremely tough, long-lasting, and could be made into attractive shapes.

This particular mortar and pestle was made in the Netherlands in the early 1700s and while it’s only a medium-sized one, I just had to have it the moment I saw it online. I ummed-and-aahed over it for months, but when nobody else stepped forward, I finally plucked up the courage and decided to buy it. It took a week before it arrived, and it was the most anxious and frustrating week of my life. But, it’s here!

The base of the mortar, which was probably spun on a lathe, has two sets of concentric rings for decoration, and a ‘5’ for size. You might notice that the small hole drilled into the base of the mortar is slightly off-center (no, that’s not the angle of the dangle, that’s how it really looks).

Brass mortars and pestles were made by either being cast (usually sand-cast) or by being spun on a lathe, and the brazier using a chisel or tool to carve away the excess metal, leaving us with beautifully finished brasswork like this.

Here’s a few more shots of my latest toy:

Both pieces are in wonderful condition, considering their ages. No dents or cracks or damage anywhere.

The interior of the mortar is slightly concave, and full of dents and dings from the thousands of times that the pestle has been smashed into it or ground against it, in the course of hundreds of years of use.

I’ve often wondered why these mortars have those round, ball or knob-handles on the sides. For a period, they seemed to have been very common.

Someone I spoke to suggested that they might serve a more practical function than just a way to pick up the mortar, and that perhaps the handles held the mortar in a cradle or stand.

I’d never heard of such a thing, but it did seem to make sense. After searching online, I did find one photographic reference to wooden mortar and pestle stands for sets like the one shown here. I was so intrigued by it, I’m thinking of making my own.

With any luck, my next post in this blog will be about making that stand, and showing it off online!

 
by

“Velvetone Bell Company” Foot-Plunger Bell

I showed this to about half a dozen people on the way home after buying it, not a single person could tell me what the hell it was before I told them!

But it’s neat, yeah?

What we got here is a “Velvetone Bell Company” streetcar or horse-carriage bell, from the late 1800s. Bells like this were found on streetcars, cablecars, trams, horse-carriages, and even some early motor-cars, and were used by the driver to warn people ahead of approaching traffic.

Bells like this featured a removable plunger, usually connected to the bell by a short chain (as you can see in the picture), which could be pressed down into the bell using the driver’s foot, which activated the spring-tensioned striker-merchanism, which rang the bell…very loudly! Twice!

This bell hadn’t been used in 50 or more years, and so as a result, the striker mechanism inside the bell was extremely stiff. After a few experimental ding-dings, the whole thing seized up! So I pulled it apart…

…then cleaned, and lubricated the striker mechanism…

…to get it ringing again. Although this looks extremely crude, it’s actually a very effective mechanism. The chunk of brass on the right with the screw in it is the hammer that hits the side of the bell. The rest of it is all part of the spring-mechanism that jerks it back and forth to ring at each push-pull motion of the plunger.

The last thing I did was to re-reddify the red background on the plaque at the top of the bell…

…and put in some modern screws. I’ll replace these with brass ones one day, if I can find any.

 
by

Making your Mark: Studying Silver and Reading Hallmarks

Silver has been valued by mankind for thousands of years, along with its big brother, gold. Silver has had a big impact on our lives and our language, although we don’t always realise it. A silver spoon. Silverware. The Pound Sterling. A hallmark of quality. Up to scratch. Acid test. These are all expressions or phrases which have their history in mankind’s love affair with silver. So, what is silver and what are we looking at in this posting?

Silver is an elemental metal. In this posting I’ll be covering what silver is used for, the various grades of silver, and how to identify silver hallmarks. Let’s begin!

What Is Silver?

Silver is an elemental metal – a metal that appears in nature – and has been used for thousands of years to make everything from coins to cups to candlesticks. Silver can be melted down and reformed, it can be used to make almost anything, and it has been mined everywhere from China to Europe, England to South America. For centuries, conspicuous ownership and use of silver was seen as a status symbol. Grand households could, and did, amass great quantities of silverware – everything from shaving scuttles to candlesticks, ice-buckets to chamber pots!

What are Hallmarks and Why do they Exist?

Hallmarks are the little symbols, pictures, letters and numbers stamped onto the little (and big!) pieces of silver that we buy from places like antiques shops, jewelry shops, watchmakers and silversmiths. They have existed for centuries and centuries of history, in one form or another and are generally recognised as being the oldest regulated form of buyer-protection in the world.

…why?

It is impossible to tell, just by looking at a piece of gold, or silver, what level of purity the metal is. It could be 10 percent, 20 percent, 40 percent or 90 percent purity. It could be solid silver, pure silver, silver plated, or not silver at all! So, how do you know?

You don’t! Not unless you have it tested. But to have everything you own tested and checked all the time would be a pain in the ass! Right? As Yente would say: “Of course right!”

The Assay Office

Because it would be impractical to have every single piece that a person buys, tested for silver purity, the way to ensure consistency, honesty and proper regulation was to introduce a system whereby every piece of silver which could be legally sold, had to be independently tested and indelibly marked as being made of silver.

Enter the Assay Office.

An Assay Office was the institution or body which regulated the testing and marking of silver and gold. The oldest surviving one in Great Britain is the Goldsmiths’ Hall in London, which dates back to the 14th century! It was made law in England and France in the 13th and 14th centuries, that all silver had to contain hallmarks – symbols that swore to the fact that the metal had been independently tested for purity – before it could be legally sold on the open market.

Goldsmiths’ Hall in London. This building (or rather, the original built on this site; this is the third such Goldsmiths’ Hall) gave us the origin of the term “Hallmark”.

It is from the Goldsmiths’ Hall in London which the term ‘hallmark’ originates. They still carry out hallmarking services there to this day.

Hallmarks are not only found on silver – they’re also found on gold and platinum, but in this posting, I’m concentrating on silver marks.

How old are Hallmarks?

Hallmarking is the oldest form of consumer protection in the world that still exists today in something approximating its original form. It was established in the FOURTH CENTURY (300s), and more or less the same form of hallmarking has existed, in one way or another, ever since.

Hallmarking as we recognise it today was first standardised in the medieval period, starting in France in 1275, and then in England, in 1300. The types and numbers of hallmarks rose and fell over time, depending on the laws and regulations of the era. A traditional set of European hallmarks will be anywhere from four to six in number, by which they can be dated, identified and certified as being gold, or silver.

Throughout the succeeding centuries, extra hallmarks and standards were introduced, such as creating proper, well-regulated assay offices, assay marks, date letters, and maker’s marks, in addition to simple purity or ‘fineness’ marks.

Types of Hallmarks

There are a number of different hallmarks in the world, and they vary wildly by country, but there are only about half a dozen specific *types* of marks, that you really need to be aware of. I’m going to talk about them here.

Fineness Mark

The first mark you’re likely to find on a piece of silver is the fineness mark. This mark indicates the purity or ‘fineness’ of the silver, whether it’s 750/1,000, 800, 900, 925, 935, 950, etc. There are two types of fineness marks: Traditional fineness marks (usually represented by animal symbols) and numerical fineness marks (called ‘milesimal’ fineness marks). Traditional fineness marks are more old fashioned and stylistic; milesimal fineness marks are a more modern method of marking.

Degrees of fineness vary from country to country, as each nation or continent has a minimum standard of silver purity which may be classified as “solid silver”. In Britain, ‘solid silver’ has to be at least 92.5% purity (called ‘sterling silver’). The lowest legal grade in Europe is 800/1000 silver (80% pure), which is enforced in countries like Germany. Consequently, 800 silver is generally known as ‘Continental’ silver. Countries like Switzerland have a slightly higher grade, which is 935 silver (93.5% pure). For a short period in Britain, the standard was 950 (95% pure), although that was discontinued in 1720.

The traditional fineness mark in Britain is the symbol of a lion walking to the left, called a ‘Lion Passant’, which indicates Sterling Silver (92.5% pure). A higher grade of silver (95%) was traditionally marked with the picture of a woman, sitting down, with a shield at her feet (Lady Britannia). This grade of silver is known as Britannia Silver.

Britannia-grade silver was discontinued in Britain in 1720, because while it was a higher grade of silver purity, the lack of enough alloying copper made the metal far too soft to work properly and silversmiths were complaining that their finished pieces were suffering in quality as a result. So the old sterling standard was reintroduced in the 1720s. It has remained the standard in Britain ever since.

Assay/City/Town Mark

I’ve always called these things assay marks. Some texts call them City Marks, Town Marks…whatever…

The assay mark is the official hallmark of the assay office which assayed (tested) the piece of silver that you’ve got in your hand. This mark on your silver tells you that the piece was independently tested and certified to be (or be above) a specific purity of silver.

Assay marks still in use in Britain today include the Castle (for Edinburgh), the Anchor (for Birmingham), the Rose (for Sheffield. Previously, this was a Crown), and the Leopard’s Head (for London). There used to be several assay offices scattered throughout Britain, but now only a handful remain. Silver pieces with the marks of defunct assay offices on them can command high prices due to their comparative rarity.

Maker’s Mark

Compulsory in Britain since the mid-1300s is the Maker’s Mark. The Maker’s Mark is usually the initials of the silversmith, or the company, which manufactured the piece. Maker’s marks are highly individual. As some initials can be repeated between makers, different sizes, styles, fonts, and arrangements of letters were used to make each mark recognizable. Different styles, shapes and sizes of borders around the marks also helped to make them stand out, and be identified by the general public.

Date Letter

The date letter system was introduced so that people would know how old their silver was. Each assay office would have bordered sets of letters in alphabetical order, and these were used to mark each piece sent through the office to act as a date reference later on. Dating pieces can be tricky – letters changed all the time – capitals, lowercase, italics, serifs, sans serifs, different border-shapes…the list goes on. And then there’s the added factor that each set of date letters is unique to the specific assay office which marked the piece. You can’t use London date letters to date a piece assayed in Birmingham, for example – it wouldn’t work.

Duty Mark

From 1784, until 1890, an extra mark was required on British silver called a duty mark. The presence of this mark indicated that the required silver duty (silver tax) had been paid to the Crown. The Duty Mark was represented by a profile portrait of the reigning monarch of the day. There were four duty marks: George III, George IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria. The presence, or absence of a duty mark can help date the age of your piece.

10686723_1644404482484698_5901414765037934042_n

A full set of traditional English hallmarks. L-R: [D&LS] (David & Lionel Spiers. Makers). [I] – date-letter for 1885. [Anchor] – for Birmingham. [Lion Passant] – for Sterling Silver. [Monarch’s Head] – Duty Mark.

Milesimal Marks

These days, the most common type of hallmark that you’ll see on modern silver is what’s called a ‘milesimal’ fineness mark. These marks or stampings indicate the purity or ‘fineness’ of the silver in a numerical manner, instead of a symbolic manner (such as the Lion Passant).

Common milesimal marks include:

950 – 950/1000, or Britannia Silver.
935 – 935/1000, or Swiss silver.
925 – 925/1000, or Sterling Silver.
900 – 900/1000, or 90% silver by purity.
800 – 800/1000, or 80% silver by purity. AKA German Silver or Continental Silver.

You sometimes see silver purity below 800, although this tends to be rare.

One mark you might sometimes see (exclusively in American silver) is the term “COIN”, “COIN SILVER” or “FINE COIN”. This indicates that the silver piece in your hands came from the melting down of a whole heap of old, out-of-circulation silver coins. The standard purity is usually 800.

When is Silver Not Silver?

Silver has been prized by man for centuries – its colour, its sheen, its sparkle – have all made it desirable. But its price has not. To this end, silver-imitating metals have long been popular silver-substitutes, and craftsmen have often made items out of such metals to sell to people who would like something in their homes or lives that looks like silver…but which isn’t…most likely because they can’t afford the real thing.

Pewter

Another white metal which has been used, if not prized, throughout history, is one called pewter. Pewter is a mix of copper and tin, in this case, high levels of tin and low levels of copper; in older times, lead was also included. The opposite (high levels of copper, low levels of tin) gives you bronze.

Pewter has a darker, greyer colour than silver, but was nonetheless used for things as diverse as candlesticks, spoons, cups, mugs, flagons, plates, bowls and many other things. It’s sometimes plated in silver and it may have the letters ‘EPBM’ stamped on some silver-plated pewter items.

EPBM is Electroplated Britannia Metal – This means that it is silver-plated pewter. It is NOT Britannia SILVER, which is 95% silver by purity.

Nickel-Silver

Another common metal which is sometimes mistaken for silver is a material known as Nickel-Silver, which despite the name, doesn’t have any silver in it at all! Nickel-Silver is made out of an alloy of nickel, copper and zinc – it has the superficial appearance of silver, at a glance, but contains no real silver in the mix, unless it’s been silver-plated.

Nickel silver is usually marked “N.S.”. Electroplated nickel silver is “EPNS”. It’s also called German Silver, and alpacca, among many other names.

Deciphering Silver Marks

Finding out what the marks on your silver mean can be challenging. Two great online resources for finding out what they are, are the following websites:

Silver Maker’s Marks for British & Irish Silver

This isn’t an infallible site, but it lists the marks of almost every British and Irish silversmith. Useful for finding out who made your piece.

925-1000.com

The online silver encyclopedia. Not always the easiest of resources to navigate, I’ve found, but the information it provides is good, once you’ve tracked it down.

 

 
by

The Daily Grind: The Humble Help of the Mortar and Pestle

I wanted to post this last year, but I ran out of time, what with end-of-year things and all that stuff going on. So…anyway, this is my first official post for 2016!! Happy reading, folks!

… … … …

Name one thing made by the hands of man, which has been in existence since prehistoric times, and which is still in use today.

Stone tools? Cave-paintings? Leopard-skin cloaks? Fred Flinstone’s sedan?

Betcha didn’t come up with a thing, didja? Betcha thought there wasn’t anything, huh? Huh? HUH??

Well…you’d be…wrong.

Because there is one thing. One tool. One implement. One device, made by the hands of man, which, in over three thousand years, has barely changed its shape, and which to this day, is still widely used by millions of people around the world, and which is still being manufactured, purchased, sold, and even by some people – collected!

You probably have a set of it right now, in your kitchen.

The humble mortar and pestle.

What is a Mortar and Pestle?

A mortar and pestle, or a pestle and mortar, is a stick or club (pestle, from the Latin ‘pinsere’: ‘to crush’), and a bowl or cup (the mortar), which are used jointly to crush, powderise, pound, compound, liquefy, mix and combine whatever is put inside the mortar. These humble tools have had countless uses throughout thousands of centuries, and their use continues right into the modern period.

The First Mortars and Pestles

The first textual mention of a mortar and pestle dates back to around 1500B.C, but their existence goes all the way into prehistory. for hundreds if not thousands of years. As a result, they’re probably unique in being one of the few inventions of early man which can truly have been said to have stood the test of time!

Mortars and pestles have always been used for the same variety of tasks – their simplicity and ease of use is why they’ve lasted so long – but while they’re mostly used in the kitchen these days, they weren’t always viewed as food-preparation tools.

The Pharmaceutical Mortar and Pestle

For several hundred years, the mortar and pestle were actually the center of the pharmaceutical trade, and any pharmacy or apothecary was bound to have one. Herbalists, druggists, pharmacists and apothecaries (who all basically dealt in the same region of manufacturing and selling medicines and curatives), were the chief users of mortars and pestles for untold centuries, to the extent that a mortar and pestle became the iconic tool of the pharmacist, much like how the mortarboard cap is linked to study and education, or how the striped red and white pole is the icon of barbers the world-over.

The word ‘drug’ comes from the Dutch word ‘droog’, meaning dried plant-matter. Originally, herbalists or apothecaries had to go out and scavenge their ingredients for cures themselves. Having gathered the necessary plants, they then had to prepare them for use. Crushing, grinding, mashing, mixing and pulverising the plants in various ways was the best method to extract the juices, saps, nectars and other innards, which contained the active ingredients which went into the medicines that the apothecary would then prescribe to his patients or customers for curing their ills.

And he or she couldn’t dispense a single teaspoon of willow-bark powder (for treating headaches), or crushed nettles (for treating bruises and bumps), without first having processed them with their trusty mortar and pestle!

The Mortar and Pestle in the Kitchen

Although historically, it was most famously used by apothecaries and pharmacists, the mortar and pestle were also used extensively in kitchens. Ancient Greeks and Romans all made use of them in one way or another, for preparing food. It’s one kitchen gadget that went in and never came out again! Most of the people reading this probably have a mortar and pestle sitting on their kitchen counter right now, even if it’s only for display purposes.

Mortars and pestles were essential in ancient kitchens – in an age before food-processors and blenders, your mortar and pestle was your food processor. Sauces, pastes, purees, jams, secret spice-blends, and even the grinding of spices themselves, were all done by dumping the ingredients into a mortar and pestle and mashing and smashing the ingredients to a pulp. To this day, you can still go to the supermarket and buy basil or sun-dried tomato ‘pesto’, which gets its name from how it was originally produced – by being ground up in a mortar with a…pestle.

Mortar Materials

Mortars and pestles are designed to mix, crush, grind and pulverise. As a result, they have to be made of very tough materials! It can’t be anything that will flake off, chip, crack, shatter or break from the constant pounding, grinding, smashing and scraping. The materials which the mortar and pestle are made of have to be easily cleaned, and they cannot absorb the essence of what they’re grinding. This would impart conflicting tastes (in cooking), or contaminate medicines (if grinding herbs for medicinal uses), which would be unpleasant, or even deadly!

With this in mind, a mortar and its accompanying pestle couldn’t just be made out of ANYTHING! The material used to manufacture them had to be strong, inert, heavy, and not susceptible to imparting anything within it to the materials being ground up inside it. Early mortars and pestles were made out of stone, or specially-fired types of clay or ceramics. When mankind attained sufficient skill, mortars and pestles were also made out of first bronze, and then brass. Bronze and brass mortars and pestles could be cast and made to a very high quality. On top of that, both metals were very strong, and neither could emit a spark – very useful, when you consider that one of their chief operators were the people who made gunpowder! These days, mortars are also made of steel, wood, and even specially-manufactured toughened glass.

The Modern Mortar and Pestle

Mortars and pestles became less and less common in its traditional pharmaceutical setting as the 19th century progressed. The rise of mass-production, and the ability of companies to mass-produce pills, lotions, potions and tablets meant that it was no longer necessary for a pharmacist to grind up your medicines for you on-site. By the 20th century, the practice was coming to an end.

Although sometimes still used in scientific laboratories for crushing ingredients used in experiments, the place that you’re most likely to find a mortar and pestle these days is in your kitchen, where many people still use them for crushing herbs, grinding spices, preparing sauces and relishes, and for mixing ingredients. Slower than using a food-processor, perhaps, but it saves power, it burns calories…and hey…it’s lots of fun smashing stuff up in a mortar! Just make sure you do it right, and don’t send stuff flying around the room!

Want to Know More?

http://www.herbmuseum.ca/content/mortar-and-pestle

http://www.liveauctiontalk.com/free_article_detail.php?article_id=206

http://www.motherearthliving.com/cooking-methods/the-mortar-and-pestle.aspx